Power & Passion: Six Characters in Search of Resurrection

Chapter One

Pontius Pilate

Pontius Pilate is usually portrayed as an honest broker surrounded
by fanatical hotheads. This portrayal is not based on
what the gospel accounts tell us about Pilate. The Roman governor
had a strong, vested interest in the outcome of Jesus' trial. Although
the gospel writers portray Pilate's character and interests
differently, they each give us a vivid picture of the alliances that
closed in on Jesus.

People
with executive power often like to see themselves as
honest brokers. But power is a gift and is principally given for
setting people
free. Most of us have a great deal more power than
we realize. We too can try to hide behind the ambiguities of public
responsibility or the pretense that we have no vested interests.
This chapter considers the nature of political power and the possibilities
of the power we each have.

Rome and the Manipulation of Power

Rome dominated the Mediterranean world and many territories
far beyond. The key source of wealth was land, and the
Roman aristocracy was largely made up of great landowners.
These landowners controlled the rest of the population of the
empire through military force, tax collection, and a patronage
network that assumed the extortion of bribes. Judea was no different.
To understand the political dynamics of the four gospel
accounts, one needs to place the events of the story between these
controlling forces: soldiers, tax gatherers, and quislings (those in
the governor's "pocket"). Among the first category we find the
centurion whose servant Jesus healed; among the second category
we find Matthew the disciple and Zacchaeus; among the third
category we find Herod Antipas, Caiaphas, and Nicodemus.

The gospel accounts of Jesus' birth and death can be somewhat
confusing because of the number of different people
who
seem to be in charge. F or example, when Pilate discovers Jesus
is from Galilee, a region that was not directly ruled by Rome,
he sends Jesus to Herod Antipas, the vassal ruler of that region
(Luke 23.5 . 12). Later, the Jerusalem authorities (whom John's
gospel confusingly and disturbingly calls "the Jews"), having
condemned Jesus, need the Roman governor's authority to make
this a death sentence. Pilate says to these so-called leaders, "Here
is your king" . whereupon they respond, "We have no king but
Caesar" (John 19.14 . 15).

This demeaning state of affairs is due to the manner in which
the Roman emperor ran his empire. Rather than dominate and
overrun his subject people,
he creamed off perhaps 5 percent of
the population to act as retainers. These people
would get significant
benefits in terms of the three most important things: wealth,
prestige, and power. All that was required in return was loyalty to
Rome. Thus at the time of Jesus' birth, Rome could afford not to
rule Judea directly. I nstead, it simply controlled the people
and
raised taxes through a vassal king, Herod the Great. But Herod
died shortly after Jesus was born, and his sons had neither his
authority nor his skill. So following Herod's death, Rome took to
administering the province directly, by installing a governor.

Nonetheless, they kept on the various hierarchies of retainers
to act as intermediaries between them and the largely Jewish population.
And well they might, for as some who are used to being
in charge are fond of saying, "Why keep dogs and bark yourself?"
Pilate and his predecessors had found a formula that meant they
could control the province and meanwhile acquire considerable
wealth for themselves, not by suppressing the people
with military
force but by manipulating those among the population who
sought the three things that really mattered in the Roman E mpire:
wealth, prestige, and power. That is why in the Gospels there
are only occasional encounters and confrontations with Roman
authorities and soldiers. Most of the disputes are with Rome's
stooges . those whose obedience to Rome demonstrated they had
lost all sight of being God's holy people.

The most interesting aspects in a society are those things that
everyone takes for granted. Pontius Pilate is a significant figure,
even before one considers his role in relation to Jesus' death, because
he had achieved everything that his culture most valued.
Pontius Pilate's parents would have been members of the Roman
aristocracy among the equestrian class . in other words, rich and
influential but not quite senator material. We could call them
knights rather than lords. These knights used their class advantages
to gain wealth, prestige, and power. The equestrian class
generally served the empire in military office; if they succeeded,
they could end up becoming a prefect of one of the more troublesome
provinces. Judea was one of those provinces. I n AD 26, Pontius
Pilate became its fifth prefect, or governor. His parents would
have been very proud.

So the stage is set in Jerusalem: on the one hand stand the
Jerusalem authorities, apparently manipulating the institutions
of power but in practice in the pocket of the governor; and on
the other hand Pontius Pilate, doing very well out of keeping the
status quo and happy to let the Jerusalem authorities have a visible
role in running the show. E nter Jesus of Nazareth at Passover.
His presence was an issue that the Jerusalem authorities could not
handle by themselves. He was not just a threat to the system of
patronage and the manipulation of the elite; he was a threat to the
Roman governor himself. Jesus not only emerged as a potential
king, but he also undermined the dominant notions of wealth,
prestige, and power and loosened their hold on the popular imagination.
That was why it was inevitable that Jesus and Pilate would
come face-to-face.

Jesus Meets Pilate

Each of the Gospels offers a different slant on the meeting
of Jesus and Pilate, and it is important to attend to the features
of each narrative. (I shall not consider Mark's account explicitly,
since it is almost entirely included in Matthew's account.)

Matthew

Matthew's gospel as a whole offers an extended study in how
Jesus' teaching and ministry threaten the domination of the Jerusalem
elites. The Jerusalem authorities are at Herod's side when he
decides to wipe out the babes of Bethlehem (2.3 . 18); they seem to
have as much to lose from the birth of a new king as Herod does.
Later, they decide to kill Jesus (12.14) after he has perceived that
the crowds have no adequate leaders (9.36). And the antagonism
is not just on the side of the authorities. Jesus gives them every
reason to hate him. He unambiguously denies that they represent
God and calls them "blind guides" (15.14) before attacking the
heart of their power. He claims they have transformed worship
into profiteering and have kept their grip on the people
by manipulating
the temple taxes (21.12 . 13). He compares them to tenants
who have betrayed their master (21.33 . 46), criticizes them
as hypocrites and oppressors of the people,
and finally announces
that the temple, the center of their power, will be destroyed (24.2).
The Jerusalem authorities and Jesus are on a collision course from
the word go.

So it comes as no surprise that the Jerusalem authorities arrest
and quickly condemn Jesus (26.57 . 68; 27.1 . 2). I t is telling
that Matthew records Judas's suicide before Jesus has even reached
Pilate. This suggests that Judas recognized the Jerusalem elite and
Pilate as being hand in glove with one another: Jesus' death was
now inevitable. This is a sobering introduction to the conversation
between Pilate and Jesus. The outcome is not in the balance;
it is already settled. There is no question of casting Jesus as good,
the authorities as bad, and Pilate as a vacillating middle man. The
popular view of Pilate as a man of reason manipulated by a bunch
of fanatics is not Matthew's view. Pilate will do whatever it takes
to maintain his stranglehold on Judea, and there is no reason
whatsoever to alienate his chief allies. Judas is correct in realizing
that Jesus is already doomed.

Pilate's interaction with Jesus comes in three overlapping
scenes.

1. Pilate Questions Jesus

Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor
asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" "You
have said so," Jesus replied. When he was accused by the
chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer. Then Pilate
asked him, "Don't you hear the testimony they are
bringing against you?" But Jesus made no reply, not even
to a single charge . to the great amazement of the governor.
(27.11 . 14)

Here is an explicit confrontation between two rulers. Matthew
calls Pilate "the governor" at this point, to emphasize the
contrast. The simple question is, "Are you the king of the Jews?"
What the question means is, "Do you set yourself up as the leader
of this people
in defiance of the Roman E mperor, in defiance of
me, and in defiance of the Jerusalem authorities?" A whole sequence
of figures in the first century . Simon, Athronges, Menachem,
and a second Simon . did exactly this, and each of them
was rubbed out by emperor, governor, or local elite.

Jesus is not a conventional king. He subverts the Roman assumption
that what matters is wealth, status, and power. He has
no use for wealth. He says, "No one can serve two masters" (6.24).
Instead, he points out how rich one is if one trusts in God; he
points out how even Solomon in all his wealth was not clothed
like the lilies of the field . yet God will clothe his people
much
more extravagantly than the grass of the field. Therefore, he says,
"Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things
will be given to you as well" (6.33). He subverts conventional notions
of status. He says, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles
lord it over them, . . . Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to
become great among you must be your servant . . . just as the Son
of Man did not come to be served, but to serve" (20.25 . 28). And
he has no use for power, at least understood in the Roman sense as
power backed by force. He rides into Jerusalem on a donkey with
palm branches rather than on a horse with weapons and booty
(21.1 . 11). He says, "Do not resist an evil person" (5.39), and even
at the moment of his arrest he warns, "All who draw the sword
will die by the sword" (26.52).

But Jesus is still a king. He stays silent before Pilate, perhaps
echoing the words of Isaiah 53.7, "He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth." But there is no reason for Pilate to
doubt that Jesus is a king and thus a threat to Rome.

2. Pilate Consults the Crowd

Now it was the governor's custom at the F estival to release
a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a
well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. So
when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, "Which
one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or
Jesus who is called the Messiah?" For he knew it was out
of envy that they had handed Jesus over to him. While
Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this
message: "Don't have anything to do with that innocent
man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream
because of him." But the chief priests and the elders persuaded
the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus
executed. "Which of the two do you want me to release
to you?" asked the governor. "Barabbas," they answered.
"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?"
Pilate asked. They all answered, "Crucify him!"
"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. But
they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!" (27.15 . 23)

Here is a choice between two prisoners . Jesus Barabbas and
Jesus called the Messiah. This scene undermines any reading of
the story that paints Pilate as the evenhanded agent of justice. For
justice is an early casualty of the whim of public opinion.

The choice, and the fact that both prisoners have the same
name, Jesus ("Savior"), highlights the meaning of the title "Messiah".
Messiah means "King of the Jews". and King of the Jews
means a challenge to Jerusalem and Rome. It is common today
to regard politics and religion as largely separate spheres of influence,
and certainly of authority. But such a distinction meant
nothing to Caiaphas, who saw himself as leader of the people
in
his role as high priest, and it is not clear that it meant much to
Jesus either. When Jesus says to Caiaphas, "You will see the Son of
Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on
the clouds of heaven" (26.64), it is pretty clear that the days of the
cozy collusion between Caiaphas and Pilate are numbered.

Pilate sees that the Jerusalem authorities are jealous of Jesus,
but his bread is buttered on the Jerusalem authorities' side, and he
adeptly manipulates the crowd to ensure that Rome continues to
appear as benefactor and is never revealed as oppressor.

3. Pilate Washes His Hands

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead
an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his
hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's
blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!" All the people
answered, "His blood is on us and on our children!" Then
he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged,
and handed him over to be crucified. (27.24 . 26)

This concludes a masterful passage of political activity by Pilate.
Not only does he dispose of a threat to his power system, but
he also manages to get those most oppressed by the system ("all
the people")
to proclaim that the execution is their responsibility.
His true motives are revealed when he has Jesus flogged before
handing him over to be crucified . hardly the act of a reluctant
fair-dealer.

The first scene brought together Pilate the governor and Jesus
the king. In the second scene the contrast was between Barabbas
the savior and Jesus the savior. Here now in the third scene is the
most ironic contrast: Pilate, who presents his actions to the people
as "innocent" and "for you", and Jesus, whose death points out
Pilate's guilt, and who has already said at the Last Supper that his
life is "poured out for many" (26.28).

Matthew presents Pilate as a hideous parody of the Messiah.
It is the Messiah who comes to set people
free, but here it is Pilate
who teases the crowd by offering to set free one of their prisoners.
It is the Messiah who, though politically committed, is innocent
of all wrongdoing, but here it is Pilate who washes his hands,
feigning innocence. I t is the Messiah who should be attracting
the unswerving loyalty of the Jerusalem authorities, but here it
is Pilate who has the high priests and scribes at his beck and call.
Pontius Pilate is no honest broker but a pale imitation of Jesus.

Luke

Luke mentions Pontius Pilate three times before the passion
narrative, and each reference provides a helpful introduction to
his role in the story. Pilate first appears tucked in between the
emperor Tiberius and the local ruler Herod Antipas in a list of
those in control of the region (and whose authority is implicitly
questioned by John the Baptist, to whose ministry this list is an
introduction) (3.1). He later appears as a governor who executed
some Galileans and mixed their blood with their sacrifices (13.1).
This portrays him as a ruthless man who doesn't hesitate to break
taboos to execute punishment and who apparently fears no reprisal.
Then he finally appears in the introduction to the question
about paying taxes to Caesar. The scribes and chief priests plot to
trap Jesus and hand him over to the governor (22.2). There seems
no question that handing Jesus over to the governor means Jesus'
fate can be relied upon.

The way Jesus challenges Rome is explicit in Luke's gospel
from the very beginning. Gabriel tells Mary that her son will "be
great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God
will give him the throne of his father D avid, and he will reign over
the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end" (1.32 . 33).
Mary announces that through her son, the Lord God "has performed
mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who
are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers
from their thrones but has lifted up the humble" (1.51 . 52). This
is hardly encouraging reading for Rome and its allies. Meanwhile
Zechariah also realized that God is giving I srael "salvation from
our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us" (1.71). The
angel tells the shepherds that the baby is Savior and Lord . two
titles closely associated with Roman emperors (2.11). And Jesus'
reign is to be one of peace . the very state that the Pax Romana
claimed to bring to all of Rome's subjugated peoples.
Jesus' peace
is more than the absence of conflict; it is the flourishing of all
creation founded on the right worship of God. It is a peace Rome
cannot comprehend.

So a showdown between the two global authorities is inevitable.
Luke's account has four scenes.

1. The Stirrer and the Unstirred

Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate.
And they began to accuse him, saying, "We have found
this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of
taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king." So Pilate
asked Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews?" "You have
said so," Jesus replied. Then Pilate announced to the chief
priests and the crowd, "I find no basis for a charge against
this man." But they insisted, "He stirs up the people
all
over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has
come all the way here." (23.1 . 5)

The contrast in Luke's account is between the Jerusalem authorities
and Pilate. The former repeatedly complain that Jesus
has been causing trouble throughout Pilate's domain, leading the
common people
astray. The latter consistently appears to underestimate
Jesus.

The Jerusalem authorities show the limits of their imagination
(or their tendency to fabrication) by the way they convey
Jesus' answers to their questions. On taxes, Jesus places the whole
practice of loyalty to Rome within the larger question of loyalty to
God (20.25). Likewise on kingship, he places the rule of the status
quo within the larger perspective and timescale of the coming of
the Son of Man (22.69). If the Jerusalem authorities construe such
remarks as a crude thrust for power, Pilate equally misinterprets
them as harmless philosophizing. Jesus has none of the trappings
of majesty - armed followers, citadels, wealth, a royal entourage -
so how can he be a serious threat? Pilate is not stirred and waves
his key allies' concerns away without serious consideration.

2. The King and His Parody

On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean.
When he learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction,
he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at
that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased,
because for a long time he had been wanting to see him.
From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him
perform a sign of some sort. He plied him with many questions,
but Jesus gave him no answer. The chief priests and
the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently
accusing him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and
mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent
him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became
friends - before this they had been enemies. (23.6.
12)

Herod is a parody of Jesus. He thinks of himself as a king and
has all the royal trappings that Jesus lacks. In an extraordinarily
ironic moment, Herod dresses Jesus as a king. Jesus, perhaps overcome
by the degree to which Herod has debased the notion of
kingship, holy living, and the Jewish people
in general, does not
even speak to Herod. There is no sign of the kind Herod thought
Jesus might be good for.

Herod is also a parody of Pilate. Pilate really does have
power - or kingship, or at least an army. He does not seem to be
troubled by having disposed of the Galileans (in the way Herod
is anxious about having executed John the Baptist [9.7 . 9]). But
Herod impresses Pilate by seeming to regard Jesus as beneath his
concern. Thus Herod shows himself as impervious to the protests
of the Jerusalem authorities. For the first time, Pilate takes Herod
seriously; a man who sees Jesus as irrelevant is clearly a man who
knows where true power lies.

3. Jesus Is Dismissed as Irrelevant

Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the
people,
and said to them, "You brought me this man as
one who was inciting the people
to rebellion. I have examined
him in your presence and have found no basis
for your charges against him. N either has Herod, for he
sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing
to deserve death. Therefore, I will punish him and then
release him." (23.13 . 16)

Pilate executes judgement. N either he nor Herod has genuinely
examined Jesus, but it is a mark of his superiority that he
considers Jesus unworthy of his attention. To underline Jesus' low
status, Pilate resolves to give him a light flogging. (There were
three degrees of flogging, and this was less grueling than the others.)
F logging was not so much a punishment as a way of reminding
the poor that they were powerless. Torture has been used in a
similar way in recent times, not so much to extract information as
to humiliate the prisoner and remind everyone who is in absolute
control.

4. Pilate's Politics Overcome His Arrogance

With one voice they cried out, "Away with this man! Release
Barabbas to us!" (Barabbas had been thrown into
prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)
Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again.
But they kept shouting, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" F or
the third time he spoke to them: "Why? What crime has
this man committed? I have found in him no grounds
for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished
and then release him." But with loud shouts they insistently
demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts
prevailed. So Pilate decided to grant their demand. He
released the man who had been thrown into prison for
insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered
Jesus to their will. (23.18 . 25)

The crowd's demand is, in the terms of the story so far, totally
unreasonable. They ask Pilate to crucify a harmless man of
no status and ask for the release of a known revolutionary. Pilate
is forced into facing up to his basic political commitments. By
not listening to his key allies, the Jerusalem authorities, he has
provoked
them into making wild demands. His arrogance is getting
him into trouble. Much better to remember the alliance that
keeps Judea under his and Rome's stranglehold, give the Jerusalem
elite their curious request, and avoid jeopardizing the cozy
coalition.

Luke's Pilate is no more an honest broker than Matthew's. The
difference between the two portrayals is this: in Matthew's version,
Pilate knows Jesus is dangerous but is concerned to unload
the blame for Jesus' death onto others; in Luke's version, Pilate is
never convinced Jesus jeopardizes anything of any significance .
what is jeopardized is Pilate's relationship with those who control
the common people
on his behalf. Pilate's recognition that he
needs to shore up this key relationship brings about his change of
heart and Jesus' death.

John

John narrates a constant antagonism between Jesus and the
people
John calls "the Jews". By "the Jews", John refers not to the
people
of Israel in general (a fact forgotten in centuries of Christian
persecution of Jewish people)
but to the elite group centered
around the high priest and his entourage. Jesus calls himself the
"good shepherd" and regards the Jerusalem authorities as "hired
hands" or "bandits" (10.1, 8, 11 . 12). He criticizes their control of
the temple as exploitative (2.13 . 22), and he implies that they are
blind to the work of God (9.39 . 41).

The conflict with "the Jews" is but part of Jesus' deeper conflict
with "the world". This is another technical term that means
not simply everything that God created but rather refers to everything
that rejects the grace of God. Jesus knows the world "hates"
him (7.7). Behind the world lies the devil, the "the prince of this
world" (12.31). Whenever John uses the term "prince", he is grouping all those who are agents of this "prince of this world"; this
includes the Jerusalem authorities (7.26, 48) and Pilate himself.

John's account of Jesus' meeting with Pilate is deftly woven
into seven scenes, taking place alternately inside and out. The significance
of the location is in each case more than circumstantial,
as we shall see.

1. Outside: Jesus Is Handed Over

Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the
palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning,
and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not
enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the
Passover. So Pilate came out to them and asked, "What
charges are you bringing against this man?" "If he were
not a criminal," they replied, "we would not have handed
him over to you." Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and
judge him by your own law." "But we have no right to
execute anyone," they objected. This took place to fulfill
what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going
to die. (18.28 . 32)

The contrast throughout the narrative is between what takes
place outside and what takes place inside. O utside, Pilate does
what he has to do to maintain his functional but uncomfortable
relationship with the Jerusalem authorities; the object of the narrative's
criticism is the Jerusalem authorities. I nside, the heart of
Pilate's rule is gradually revealed . indeed the heart of the Roman
Empire, the justification for all its double-dealing and its velvet
fist. And the heart is empty. The fact that John's gospel places
Jesus' death on the day of preparation for the Passover emphasizes
that Jesus is the Lamb of God. This portrays Pilate as Pharaoh and
Rome as Egypt and further condemns the Jerusalem authorities
as
failed versions of Moses. The additional edge in John's trial scene
is provided by the fact that Pilate's soldiers have joined the temple
police in arresting Jesus (18.3), hence the authorities' bewilderment
that Pilate is now stalling on Jesus' execution.

2. Inside: God's King and the World's King

Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus
and asked him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" "Is that
your own idea," Jesus asked, "or did others talk to you
about me?" "Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "Your own
people
and chief priests handed you over to me. What is
it you have done?" Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this
world. I f it were, my servants would fight to prevent my
arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from
another place." "You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus
answered, "You say that I am a king. I n fact, the reason
I was born and came into the world is to testify to the
truth. E veryone on the side of truth listens to me." "What
is truth?" retorted Pilate. (18.33 . 38a)

The first part of this dialogue hangs on John's ambiguous use
of the word Jew. O n first reading, it seems obvious that Jesus, not
Pilate, is a Jew. But in John's gospel, Jew means "leader in Jerusalem
who has become a quisling of Roman authority". So in this
sense, Pilate is more of a Jew than Jesus is. "Your own people"
becomes a heavily ironic phrase, since Pilate has the Jerusalem
authorities in his pocket.

The "truth" is that God is acting in Jesus to set his people
free.
Hence it makes sense to talk of Jesus as a king in the sense discussed
in relation to the other gospel accounts . a liberator. Pilate
cannot see this. He cannot even imagine it. Hence his words,
"What is truth?" Inside is empty.

When Jesus says, "My kingdom is not of this world", he is not
saying, "I am spiritual and have no interest in the political." He is
saying, "I have a kingdom that your imagination . rooted in the
Āeworld', the politics of the devil . cannot comprehend."

3. Outside: Jesus or Barabbas

With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there
and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him. But it
is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the
time of the Passover. Do you want me to release Āethe king
of the Jews'?" They shouted back, "No, not him! Give us
Barabbas!" Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising.
(18.38b . 40)

The true nature of Pilate's alliance with the Jerusalem authorities
is revealed in this scene. Pilate regards Jesus' kingdom
language as irrelevant because Jesus has said he will not fight
(18.36). Meanwhile, the Jerusalem leaders ask for Barabbas . a
well-known combatant. I n other words, both Pilate and the Jerusalem
authorities recognize that violence and military muscle
is what counts in the end. Barabbas is safe because he accepts the
terms of the battle . a battle everyone knows Pilate will win. What
follows is a brutal display of imperial violence.

4. Inside: Romans Flog Jewish Pretensions

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers
twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head.
They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him
again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And
they slapped him in the face. (19.1 . 3)

We are back inside, and there is no veneer of civility any more.
The last inside scene revealed the emptiness of Roman rule. This
scene reveals its brutality. Pilate shows what Romedoes to anyone
who claims to be a king. But the scene has plenty of irony.
It is gruesome that Pilate is acceding to the wishes of Jesus' own
people,
who are more protective of Rome than even Pilate is. And
Jesus is dressed like Caesar . with a royal purple robe and a crown
of thorns (a parody of the emperor's laurel wreath).

5. Outside: Pilate Parades the Prisoner

Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, "Look,
I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find
no basis for a charge against him." When Jesus came out
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate
said to them, "Here is the man!" As soon as the chief
priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, "Crucify!
Crucify!" But Pilate answered, "You take him and
crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against
him." The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to
that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of
God." (19.4 . 7)

Pilate is teasing the Jerusalem authorities by dangling Jesus
before them. The scene begins to make sense when one sees Pilate
as tormenting them by seeming to toss Jesus to them and then
pulling him away. Suggesting they crucify Jesus is a form of humiliation
- they have no power to do so. The whole scene affirms
where power really lies in Jerusalem.

6. Inside: The Power of the World and the Purpose of God

When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he
went back inside the palace. "Where do you come from?"
he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. "Do you
refuse to speak to me?" Pilate said. "Don't you realize I
have power either to free you or to crucify you?" Jesus answered,
"You would have no power over me if it were not
given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed
me over to you is guilty of a greater sin." F rom then on,
Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting,
"If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone
who claims to be a king opposes Caesar." (19.8 . 12)

Suddenly, the tone of the scene changes. Pilate becomes afraid
(I would translate "very" instead of "even more" in 19.8). This
man claims to be the Son of God. This is not just a king . a threat
to Pilate's own power, although absurd because without violence.
This is a god - the God - and hence a threat to Caesar himself,
and not only to Caesar but to the whole Roman sense of the transcendent.
Violence is no longer the issue. This means that Pilate,
for the first time, is powerless. He hastens inside and asks the fundamental
question, "Where do you come from?"

This is the fundamental question because it is the one that
began John's gospel. John begins with a description of where Jesus
comes from (1.1 . 18). A whole host of characters feel their way
toward the same discovery - including Nicodemus (3.13), the Samaritan
woman (4.25 . 26), the disciples (6.33), and the people
of Jerusalem (7.29). Jesus' response gives the question a twist by
turning it on Pilate, saying that Pilate's authority comes "from
above" - the same place as Jesus' authority. I n these circumstances,
the background cries of the Jerusalem authorities sound absurd -
painfully absurd. The Jerusalem authorities - who should know
all about God - call on Caesar, whom Pilate has just begun to
discover is only in power for as long as God's patience lasts. The
Jerusalem authorities should know this, so their sin is the greater.
The death of Jesus is going to be not the triumph of the Jerusalem
authorities or the domination of Rome but the victory of God.
One can understand Pilate's panic.

7. Outside: The Betrayal of God and the Handing-Over of Jesus

When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat
down on the judge's seat at a place known as the Stone
Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). I t was the day
of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. "Here
is your king," Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted,
"Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!" "Shall
I crucify your king?" Pilate asked. "We have no king but
Caesar," the chief priests answered. F inally Pilate handed
him over to them to be crucified. (19.13 . 16)

Inside, Pilate has been exposed as empty, powerless, and full
of fear. So in his moment of truth, he heads straight outside, thus
displaying that he is more dependent on the Jerusalem authorities
than anyone could previously have realized . he depends on them
to give his authority meaning. All he has left is their subservience.
He returns to playing his game with them - the game he plays
best, dangling Jesus before them. And finally he elicits the ultimate
reversal: "We have no king but Caesar", say the chief priests,
a perfect summary of their betrayal as leaders of God's people.
Pilate is mesmerized by Jesus; the chief priests are mesmerized
by Caesar. Pilate has exposed the emptiness of the chief priests'
authority, and Jesus has exposed the emptiness of Pilate's.

Washing Our Own Hands

We have seen that Matthew (like Mark) portrays Pilate as
an expert political manipulator who succeeds in disposing of an
apparent threat to his authority while at no stage appearing to
shoulder any culpability for doing so. Luke's account suggests that
Pilate underestimates Jesus but that he disposes of Jesus in order
to maintain his alliance with the Jerusalem authorities. John's is
the starkest narrative, in which Jesus is the light of truth that exposes
the emptiness of Pilate and the profound betrayal of the
temple leadership.

I have followed each account in detail because I believe that
together these readings transform our understanding of Jesus'
death and the reasons for it. The political option Jesus represented
is no remote or abstract ideal; it is a live option today. I ts full dimensions
will emerge in the course of this book, but at this stage
I shall simply highlight two moments in the story of Jesus and
Pilate that form a backdrop to what follows.

The first is the moment when Pilate washes his hands (Matt.
27.24). It is a moment that has passed into proverb and cliche and
has become part of the vocabulary of self-justification. But it must
not be forgotten that it is a charade. Pilate wants the crowd to
believe that Jesus' death is no responsibility of his. (He has succeeded
in persuading untold numbers of Christian
readers of the
gospel of his "spin" on Jesus' execution.) But he is the governor.
He has absolute power. Jesus has come before him, and he disposes
of Jesus.

So the first thing the passion narrative teaches about politics
is to be very skeptical about anybody who wants to sigh and say,
"Really, there's nothing I can do." There is plenty that Pilate can
do - but he has established at the beginning that Jesus is a threat,
so everything that he does from then on is directed to destroying
Jesus. Washing his hands is just a cynical smokescreen.

But what about the more charitable reading? I n the more
charitable reading, Pilate's hand is forced by the fanaticism of the
crowd. I n this case, the fault still lies with Pilate. Pilate has no reason
to let the crowd force his hand. This is not a democracy (even
Power and Pas sion / 48
though the crowd scene falsely suggests it is); he is the governor,
and no one in Judea can oust him. The second lesson of this narrative
is that those in power do no good by failing to realize the
power they have. Power is not wrong or bad or inherently corrupt;
it is given for a purpose - to reflect the truth, to set people
free -
and only becomes sinister when it is not used for the purpose for
which it has been given.

Few people
today have a monopoly of political power in the
way Pilate did. But many people
have overwhelming power in
smaller spheres - families, churches, voluntary organizations,
neighborhoods, businesses, hospital wards, classrooms, building
sites, football stands. Such people
need to learn from the gospel
accounts of Pontius Pilate. I t is deeply manipulative to set someone
up to be crucified and at the last minute so arrange things
that one can deny all responsibility. I t is no use allowing others
to prevail upon you through persistence, passion, or emotional
blackmail if you are in a position where you alone have the power
to be just.

And who has such power? The investor has the power to relocate
funds to organizations that have a social dividend . for example,
those that lend money to disadvantaged people
who would
normally find it next to impossible to get credit, or those that finance
low-cost properties for people
struggling to climb onto the
housing ladder. The shareholder has the power to oust directors
who will not steer their company in the ways of fair and sustainable
practices. The voter has the power to unseat a government or
local authority that mishandles power. The trustee has the power
to intervene in a voluntary organization that is being turned into
the poodle of its chief executive. The union member has the power
to invoke restraint on oppressive practices or harassment in the
workplace. The shopper has the power to purchase fairly traded
goods and shun the products of corporations that mistreat their
staff or the environment. The football fan has the power to speak
to the police about racist chanting in the stands.

On one housing estate there was a large empty field, fenced
off by the county council. Local residents had often asked to be
able to use it for sport and recreation, but there were always civic
reasons why it was not possible . mostly referring to the debris on
the park and fears of litigation. O ne morning two local parents
arranged for a street of children to clear the park of cans, bottles,
and other litter. They made sure the newspapers were aware. They
did not tear down the fences, but they carefully dismantled all the
local authority's reasons for keeping the fences up. Soon, soccer
matches were being played on the field. The council seemed to
be able to find sums of money for equipment after all. I t became
obvious that attempting to sell the park to a major retail developer
would be politically disastrous. Those two parents began
with a bottle clear-up. Within weeks they had a youth movement.
It turned out they were not as powerless as everyone initially
thought.

It is no use saying, "Really, there's nothing I can do." Politics
begins when one realizes there is plenty one can do. Discipleship
begins when one realizes that what one must do is to do what
Jesus did.

"What Is Truth?"

John's account of the meeting of Jesus and Pilate shows the
emptiness of Pilate's inside, of the inside of his regime in Judea,
and ultimately of the inside of the whole Roman E mpire. I t is
summed up in his question, "What is truth?" This is the second
key moment in the story of Jesus and Pilate.

Pilate is running a ruthlessly efficient machine. I t makes the
common people
powerless subjects, it makes the social, political,and religious elites willing quislings, and it makes him exceptionally
wealthy. Like most ruthless bureaucracies, it doesnít pause too
long to ask the question why. The justification for almost every
venture is that it will maintain the status quo.

Pilateís world is not as far from todayís world as it may at first
appear. What they have in common is that truth is a difficult
thing to talk about. On a famous occasion, one of T ony Blairís
aides intercepted a telling question to the British prime minister
with the unforgettable words ďWe don't do God.Ē In other words,
please don't dig down to the truth issues. Weíre trying to run a
bureaucracy that keeps most people
happy most of the time. It
gets us reelected. Don't unsettle the equilibrium by asking why.
The aide was very wise of course Ė the media uproar whenever
a British prime minister refers to ultimate purpose in general or
to God in particular (for example when Blair later said that God
would be his judge over the I raq invasion) shows that the British
public finds such questions deeply uncomfortable. Pilate would
have been quite at home in British political life.

The words ďWe don't do GodĒ display vividly how public life
in Western democracies has settled for an instrumental notion of
truth. Something is true if it works, if it gets you to the next place.
No one ever discusses what the final place is. F or example, in Britain
people
work very hard so their children can go to the best
school. (They either work hard to get a good salary to pay school
fees, or they work hard to earn enough money to buy a house in
the catchment area of a ďgoodĒ state school, or they work hard to
argue with the education authorities to get their child into such a
school.) At the best school, pupils work hard to get to the best university.
Once there, students work hard to get the best results. T he
best results enable them to get the best jobs. But what are the best
jobs? T he ones that make enough money to send oneís children to
the best schools, of course. T his is what I mean by an instrumental notion of truth and value. I t is a circle from which I cannot
escape until I find a different way of defining the word best.

For Pilate, all that was to be hoped for was more of the same.
Jesus asked him why. H e had no answer. Jesus stretched Pilateís
imagination farther than it was able to go, and Pilate snapped
and went out to resume his merciless taunting of the Jerusalem
authorities. Pilate couldnít imagine an order not founded on the
threat of violent military force, a competition R ome would always
win. But Jesus pointed to an empire not founded on force, an emperor
who set his people
free, a life not bounded by death Ė and
he called this ďthe truthĒ. You can see Pilateís brow furrowing, his
eyes finding it hard to focus, the solid legs beneath him beginning
to shake.

Does Jesus stretch our imaginations? Do we allow him to
challenge our instrumental notions of truth? D o we take the risk
of letting him dismantle the deftly prepared PowerPoint presentations
that tell us how to make our companies, organizations, or
families richer, safer, fitter, stronger? Does it suddenly begin to
strike us that we are Pilate in this story, saying to Jesus, ďDonít
disturb my carefully ordered world. Donít look at me like that. I ím
not powerful. I ím not a manipulator. I ím not a person who finds it
best to avoid asking why. Iím not. Iím not. Iím not. . . . Am I?Ē